Political, Situational, and other News Affecting Wentzville, St. Charles County, St. Louis Metropolitan, Missouri, and the Nation as a Whole.

Wednesday, February 3, 2016

America In Search Of A Superhero; Explaining The Rise Of Donald Trump

Commentary

By Judge Michael Carter

Every age has its heroes. The stories of some, like Hercules, have
withstood even the test of time.
Americans have embraced the superheroes of popular culture since
Superman first appeared in 1933. Today
the superheroes of comics are a mainstay of the movie industry, and we flock to
see our larger-than-life heroes. Since
2002 there have been fifty movies centered on superheroes of one sort or
another. We have an almost insatiable appetite for this
genre of entertainment.

Many political pundits
have attempted to explain the rise and prolonged dominance of Donald Trump on
the political stage as the result of his celebrity status. If celebrity status alone were the key to
political fortune then why haven't more movie and television stars made the
transition?

The answer may be that
voters this year are looking for a little something more. America is in search of a real superhero and
many believe they have found him in Donald Trump.

Trump closely mirrors the
movie adaptation of Marvel Comic's character Tony Stark, better known as Iron
Man. Stark is portrayed as an outspoken,
brash, headstrong, single-minded, unapologetic, tough-as-nails, super wealthy
celebrity, with a giant ego and playboy tendencies. Tony Stark even puts his name in giant
letters on his office tower. Sound
familiar?

Trump may not have a metallic
suit that is impervious to damage, but up until the Iowa Caucus he did seem pretty impervious to attacks from others,
and even from self-inflicted damage, in his high-price designer suits. Other Presidential candidates rolled up their
sleeves, donned plaid shirts, and tried to blend into the rows of corn to prove
how common they were in Iowa, but Trump
flew in wearing his signature suit and tie... the Iron Man of business.

Perhaps some of the
yearning for a superhero in politics is because the enemies America faces in
the world seem as sinister and powerful as the villains of our comic book
fantasies: Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong-un,
the Taliban, Al Qaeda, and ISIS.
Bio-terrorism, chemical weapons, nuclear proliferation, fear of another
recession, and even climate change threaten our way of life.

And Iron Man isn't the
only superhero Donald Trump is channeling.
There is a lot of Captain America in his appeals to patriotism, his
kick-in-the-front-door approach to dealing with ISIS (or is it HYDRA?), his yearning
to return to a simpler time. Some of it
is the image he cultivates for his campaign, but a lot is what voters project
onto him.

Heroes aren't perfect. They often stumble before they ultimately
succeed. The story-line wouldn't be as
interesting if Superman didn't have his Kryptonite, The Dark Knight - Batman
wasn't borderline psychotic, and Tony Stark didn't think so highly of himself.

It seems difficult to ever
imagine Marco Rubio being that larger-than-life hero, or Ted Cruz, and
certainly not Jeb Bush. They all seem
more like sidekicks. Rubio is at best
Dick Grayson as Robin.

Donald Trump appeared gracious
after his second-place showing in Iowa, perhaps humbled, but not broken. Tony Stark has also fallen and had to come
back many times, rebuilding his fortunes much like Donald Trump. Will Trump come back even stronger in New
Hampshire? Will he win South
Carolina? Will Donald Trump be the superhero
so many believe him to be?

The Democrats have their superhero
equivalent in Bernie Sanders. Like Spiderman's
Peter Parker he seems deceptively un-heroic, but the only way to explain the
seemingly boundless energy of a 74 year old man on the grueling campaign trail
is a radioactive spider bite. He
certainly seems to have slowed Hillary Clinton to a crawl with some sort of
sticky web.

There is, of course, a
difference between being a real hero and one of fantasy. We know there are no real superheroes. But that doesn't stop the archetype of the superhero
from being engrained in our popular culture.
It may not be at the conscience level, but I believe many Americans
yearn for a political superhero to save the nation from threats both real and
imagined. To the extent a particular
candidate reminds them of the characteristics they liked in the character of a superhero,
the more drawn voters will be to that candidate.

Mike Carter is a past Director of the St. Louis Association of REALTORS, former Senior Lecturer at the University of Missouri, current Municipal Judge for the City of Wentzville, and General Counsel for one of St. Charles County's largest employers. He has worked for the Missouri Attorney General's Office in Consumer Protection as well as Missouri's Western District Court of Appeals. Carter holds both a Juris Doctorate and a Master's Degree in Journalism from MIZZOU. He has helped lead opposition to red-light cameras in Missouri and championed the countywide ban of red-light cameras in St. Charles County. Mr. Carter is married with two children and a family dog. His family belongs to St. Joseph Parish in Cottleville. Carter's first book is expected to be published this Spring. (http://www.MikeCarter.com)